The day ended well

It's been a tiring day. I got up this morning at 5:30am, so that I could go make rounds early, and maximize how much time I could spend with the family. By the time I got home it was 10am, and one look at the house made me realize what I had to do next. I immediately went into cleaning mode: mopping, sweeping, vacuuming and even cleaning off the much neglected blinds. It took me quite a while to get the downstairs part of the house completed, and I didn't even think of starting on the upper story. Safa had a friend over for most of the day, and we all went to Dairy Queen for lunch. That's when the phone calls started coming from the hospital, and then they kept coming all afternoon. I had a very sick elderly lady in the hospital, one who as of this morning seemed to be getting better. Then suddenly she started to deteriorate, with her heart rate and blood pressure dropping. Based on her wishes the family had decided not to take aggressive measures if she went into cardiac arrest. Well within an hour of this starting the 85 year old lady passed away. She had been sick for no more than 5 days, but with pancreatitis, a disease that has a high mortality rate even in otherwise healthy people. She also had pneumonia, which really worsened her odds. Still, it's so hard to lose a patient under any circumstances. So basically the rest of the day was rather depressing; in my mind I kept wondering if there was anything I would have done differently in her care, but I believe there wasn't.

Days like this are hard on me, then I think about how many blessings I have. I had a solid 2 hours of quality time with the kids before they went to bed. I can't even count how many books Bilal and I read together, and then as soon as he went to bed Safa, Hamza and I played a highly competitive game of Scrabble. Now they are in bed, and I'm think of doing the same, but first I have to share some photos of the kids from today and yesterday.

Hamza, the birthday boy

Bilal ready for bed

My princess Safa, with her new haircut

Bilal sporting his new 'doddy' jammas

And the cloud with the silver lining, photo taken by Hamza.

Tahir's trip has been delayed a bit, he will be coming with his family on October 28th instead of the 16th. It's hard to have to wait another 12 days, but we are really excited about their visit. I am planning to take some time off while they are here, so we can see as much of each other as possible.

It's Hamza's 10th birthday!

I can't believe it, my second baby is growing up, in double digits now! And to think next year Hamza will be starting middle school next year. Time flies!

I put together a montage of some photos of my young man. It's kind of long, but how on earth can you squeeze ten years of fun into one small slideshow??!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Aaargh, math!

Safa and I just got over another somewhat tense session with Pre-algebra. She came home with another not-so-great grade in her most recent math test. We sat down together, and she solved all the previously incorrect questions correctly without any help! Now why couldn't she do it during her test???!!! For some reason she has this mental block every time she takes a math test, it's almost like she convinces herself that she can't do well. If you don't know something you can learn it, or it can be taught with some help. But what do you do when you know the concepts but just freeze up in the middle of a test, or subtract 9 from 48 and write the answer as 37 instead of 39? It gets frustrating because I know she can do it, but she's the only one that can convince herself that she can too. She has just joined the Math team, maybe that will give her the confidence she lacks. I know it's another extracurricular activity, and she's already got a lot going on, but it's a choice she made herself; she is already thinking about her future and what educational prospects she might have next year onwards.

The picnic, and other news

The picnic was fun yesterday. The kids ate hotdogs and cupcakes, well, Hamza had a cupcake and Bilal had the frosting! There was a moonwalk and some other rides for the kids. Bilal went on a little carousel, that went round and round in a pretty tight circle. Fortunately I had the presence of mind to stand next to him; within a minute or two he was getting so dizzy that he couldn't even sit upright on the horse anymore. Needless to say he didn't want to go for another ride. He did have a fun time watching kids playing in the ball pit although he didn't want to get in himself.

My broken car window has been taken care of, I got it repaired today. This evening I realized that the garage door opener which was clipped on my visor is also missing. That means that whoever took the GPS has our home address (programmed into it), and our garage opener! I have that nervous sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach now. I have emailed the manufacturer; I'm sure we can find a way to deactivate the door opener. I am also going to call the Birmingham police tomorrow to let them know.

Life with Bilal has been getting rough. I have had so many moments when I could pull my hair out lately. I am sure this wasn't my life when Safa and Hamza were toddlers. He is getting more dramatic by the day, and today hurled himself down on to the ground in a supermarket parking lot. I had given him the option of holding hands or being carried. Well he opted for running away from me so I had to pick him up kicking, and screaming and pinching. I have almost mastered the skill of carrying him just far enough away from the rest of my body that I mostly escape his attacks, but it's not easy. I firmly put him in his car seat, buckled him in and in a moment he was all smiles, singing 'Old MacDonald had a farm' at the top of his lungs. So wild, yet so cute. It is amazing how he can switch between his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personalities in less than a heartbeat. He had another meltdown at the dinner table when he insisted he wanted an ice cube from the pitcher. The one I gave him directly from the freezer just wasn't good enough for him.

After his bath he was a sweetheart all the way until bedtime. We had a little cuddle in the rocker and he asked to go into the crib. So I put him in the crib and less than five minutes later he was calling for me, asking for a "tuddow" (cuddle). So I picked him up and we rocked for a little while longer, then he went back down. This is becoming a habit. He insists on lying in the crib, I kiss him goodnight and leave and he calls me back because he's changed his mind and wants a longer cuddle after all. Keeps me on my toes, and running up and down the stairs gives me a pretty good workout.

Snuggling with his bears before bedtime. Note 'Aloha Pooh', dressed up by Safa

Hamza ready for bed too, holding his tattered white blankie. This is the one he has snuggled with, slept with, drooled on and wiped his face on since he was a baby.

Friday afternoon

Even with the trauma of my car being broken in to yesterday the weekend hasn't been all bad. I got to babysit Amanda's little doll on Friday for a few hours while she and her husband went out for lunch and a movie. She fussed a bit when they left her, and for the rest of the time was all smiles. She didn't even nap for the 4 hours I had her, so we got to play tons. But on cue, barely one minute before her mom and dad walked in to pick her up she started to cry. Hmm, just makes me look bad! But aha, I had proof of how happy she had been while they were gone. Janelle had a great time posing for the camera while we played, and she particularly loved the flash going off in her face!

Isn't she such a cutie? I can't wait until we get to have another playdate!

Now it's time to wake up our sleeping baby, I'm taking the kids to a picnic at Oak Mountain State Park. Lately Bilal has been skipping more naps (groan!) and being a particularly trying two year old, so I'm not looking forward to cutting his nap short today, but I'm sure we'll all have fun at the picnic. We don't want to leave too late!

Not a good day

Today hasn't been a great day so far; although the open house at ASFA was interesting and very informative. Safa and I parked my MINI street-side for one hour between 9 and 10am. This is a busy street, and of course it was broad daylight. When we returned this is what we saw:


While we were inside the school someone had shattered the passenger side window and stolen the GPS. Yes, I feel bad about not having taken it off the windshield and stashing it in the glove compartment, but it's not something we'd have thought of doing. I think it's probably the first time I've ever parked on the street in downtown Birmingham in my MINI, but we've done it in our other car many times, with the GPS usually in full view! Normally it wouldn't have been in my car, but I didn't know how to get to the school, and I didn't want to risk getting lost and getting there late. I called the police, who came and gave me a claim number. They said that if we can give them a serial number they might be able to find the stolen GPS. So we have to track down the serial number. Hopefully we'll find it, since Zakir registered it online. Anyway I came home and called the insurance company. Unfortunately the car damage and the theft are covered under two separate policies, our homeowner's and our auto insurance, although the company is the same. So that means two deductibles. We've already determined that the cost of the GPS is below our deductible, so no help there! Our only hope is if we can get that serial number and the slim chance that it will show up in some pawn shop and get reported as stolen property. Being realistic, I'm not too hopeful about that. As far as the car damage goes, we have decided to get an estimate before we submit a claim, to see if it's even worth our while to file one.

On top of the actual damage and monetary losses, it's so traumatic when you realize your property has been violated like that. I feel really crummy right now. I can't even imagine ever parking my car downtown again, thinking that something else could happen, although I know there will be times when I'll have to drive and park there.